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Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) confirmed yesterday that discussions continued on reviving the energy-water bill but said the failed cloture vote didn’t portend well for efforts to rein in the wayward appropriations process. “I hope it’s a temporary glitch because, I mean, if we can’t get this appropriation bill done, it doesn’t bode well for the future, and I think there seemed to be a bipartisan agreement that we need to get our work done on these appropriations bills and avoid a year-end omnibus appropriation,” he told E&E Daily. “I’m still hopeful we can work out those differences.”

For 11 years, Derrick Terry has powered his home off a 1.6-kilowatt solar photovoltaic-wind hybrid generator that produces enough electricity to light his home and refrigerate his family’s perishable food in a remote region of the sprawling Navajo reservation. Terry, a renewable energy specialist with the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority and a member of the tribal nation, and his family are one of more than 200 on the 27,000-square-mile reservation who rely on the units to generate power in its most remote areas.

Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) introduced a bill this week to boost distributed solar power on rooftops and other decentralized sources. The bill would provide a 20 percent increase in the current investment tax credit for small solar systems under 20 kilowatts. The measure is the latest push to expand renewable tax credits that were extended last year.

Much was made a few months ago about the historic climate agreement in Paris. Much is being made now about the race for the U.S. presidency. The two intersect on the question of whether the next president will build on President Obama’s climate plans or backslide on the progress Mr. Obama has managed against global climate change. But while the spotlight is on this year’s extraordinary race to the White House, America’s ability to keep its commitments in the Paris agreement and to build a 21st century energy economy depends largely on states and communities far beyond the beltway.

U.S. EPA today rolled out more details on how the agency would award early credit to states that take certain steps to cut carbon before the federal rule to curb power plant emissions takes effect in 2022. The agency has sent a proposal on the Clean Energy Incentive Program, or CEIP, to the Office of Management and Budget for review.

At a discussion among state regulators and lawmakers yesterday, several officials said the Supreme Court’s decision in February to stay implementation of the federal climate regulation has not blocked broader discussions within states about decarbonizing their power sectors. “Even those states that have pressed pause per se are still having discussions about what life will look like under a carbon-constrained [future],” said Alexandra Dunn, executive director of the Environmental Council of the States, which represents state environmental commissioners.

The Swedish furniture giant better known for cheap furniture and aromatic cinnamon buns has a new item on the shelves: solar panels. In a partnership with Solarcentury, Ikea will begin selling the panels to its U.K. customers this summer, both online and at three locations, to start out. The move comes as the United Kingdom is weakening its subsidies for solar. Still, Ikea is moving ahead with its plan, its second attempt to sell panels in the United Kingdom after an earlier partnership with Chinese company Hanergy, which ended last year.

Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia plans to generate 9.5 gigawatts of electricity from renewable energy by 2030, it said on Monday as it approved its Vision 2030 reform plan. The plan, a package of economic and social policies is designed to free the kingdom from dependence on oil exports. “Even though we have an impressive natural potential for solar and wind power, and our local energy consumption will increase threefold by 2030, we still lack a competitive renewable sector at present.”

Likely sales of Tesla batteries to just one solar company this year could be 60 percent larger than the entire U.S. “behind-the-meter” energy storage market last year, said a new report by GTM Research. Even though the analysis focused only on Tesla Motors Inc.’s sale of high-capacity batteries to SolarCity Corp., GTM Research executive Shayle Kann said results were noteworthy. He pointed to Tesla likely being the country’s top stationary battery supplier and SolarCity its top customer. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is SolarCity’s chairman.

Under the scheme, companies will conduct some operations at night or at midday when there is a lot of electricity generation from wind farms and solar power plants. As a part of the tender, companies were required to prove they need to carry out such operations and that the electricity would not be wasted.